FlexPai: Royole beats Samsung to the world’s first foldable smartphone

It appears US manufacturer Royole has beaten Samsung in the race to releasing the world’s first foldable smartphone with the launch of the FlexPai.

While we’ve seen an abundance of prototypes of this kind of device from Samsung and a number of other tech firms, Royole appears to be the first to commercially release a true foldable smartphone.

Described as a “combination of mobile phone and tablet”, the FlexPai features Royole’s 2nd Gen, ultrathin, fully flexible display.

“Disrupting consumers’ traditional concept of a smartphone, the unit can be used either folded or unfolded, giving it the portability of a smartphone plus the screen size of a high-definition tablet,” said the firm.

FlexPai can be folded from 0 to 180 degrees, and Royole boast that it will “completely change your perception of a traditional mobile phone and the need to own multiple mobile devices”.

When folded, incoming calls or photos can be conveniently taken from either side of the device.